Lauren Paetznick
Review of Journal Article
“The American Biology Teacher”
Response to the Article:
The Opportunity and Obligation of the National Association of Biology Teachers
Upon finding out about this project, I decided to search around through the Journal of “The American Biology Teacher”. Jstor happened to have the journal from 1939 until 2004, so I decided to look back at how much education has changed since then, from what little experience I have gained in science education. I have been told that we have much to learn from our own history, and it is often repeated, for better or for worse.
So, the article turned out to be very interesting. I chose an article from Volume I, number 6, titled “The Opportunity and Obligation of the National Association of Biology Teachers”. This article spoke of why the association and corresponding journal came to be as it was.
Upon observation and reading, I found there to be many similar goals between today’s teaching and yesterday’s teaching. On page 116, the author states
“High school biology teachers, and all other high school teachers, will give signal and lasting service to their country if they can hasten the day when it will be recognized that the first obligation of our secondary schools is to teach civics and manners, science and discipline.”.
This I found to be true even in today’s world, as a teacher today will show their students, whether intentionally or not, many things beyond the general science curricula that they are given to teach.
I also found the article placed much emphasis on the public knowledge of science. The author found it frustrating that the public knew very little, and cared very little about science in general. This was partially due to the fact that communication as it were, consisted of radio and written word, rather than the television and internet also. He was adamant about using education to start a fire, so to speak, within the public masses at an early age.
Another point of interest was the author’s displeasure with the teaching of science within the elementary schools. He was very annoyed with the “easy” and “roundabout” way that elementary schools taught science, stating that elementary schools spoke only of the wonder of science, rather than the truth.
Overall, I found this a very insightful opportunity to look back at our education system. We have changed for the better, compared to what the author was asking for, yet there are problems mentioned within the article which still applies today. I believe that it would be beneficial for us to look back at our history and perhaps try to learn from what has already happened, and not reinvent the wheel, so to speak.
Riddle, O (1939).The opportunity and obligation of the national association of biology teachers. The American Biology Teacher. 1, 115-121.
Review of Journal Article
“The American Biology Teacher”
Response to the Article:
The Opportunity and Obligation of the National Association of Biology Teachers
Upon finding out about this project, I decided to search around through the Journal of “The American Biology Teacher”. Jstor happened to have the journal from 1939 until 2004, so I decided to look back at how much education has changed since then, from what little experience I have gained in science education. I have been told that we have much to learn from our own history, and it is often repeated, for better or for worse.
So, the article turned out to be very interesting. I chose an article from Volume I, number 6, titled “The Opportunity and Obligation of the National Association of Biology Teachers”. This article spoke of why the association and corresponding journal came to be as it was.
Upon observation and reading, I found there to be many similar goals between today’s teaching and yesterday’s teaching. On page 116, the author states
“High school biology teachers, and all other high school teachers, will give signal and lasting service to their country if they can hasten the day when it will be recognized that the first obligation of our secondary schools is to teach civics and manners, science and discipline.”.
This I found to be true even in today’s world, as a teacher today will show their students, whether intentionally or not, many things beyond the general science curricula that they are given to teach.
I also found the article placed much emphasis on the public knowledge of science. The author found it frustrating that the public knew very little, and cared very little about science in general. This was partially due to the fact that communication as it were, consisted of radio and written word, rather than the television and internet also. He was adamant about using education to start a fire, so to speak, within the public masses at an early age.
Another point of interest was the author’s displeasure with the teaching of science within the elementary schools. He was very annoyed with the “easy” and “roundabout” way that elementary schools taught science, stating that elementary schools spoke only of the wonder of science, rather than the truth.
Overall, I found this a very insightful opportunity to look back at our education system. We have changed for the better, compared to what the author was asking for, yet there are problems mentioned within the article which still applies today. I believe that it would be beneficial for us to look back at our history and perhaps try to learn from what has already happened, and not reinvent the wheel, so to speak.
Riddle, O (1939).The opportunity and obligation of the national association of biology teachers. The American Biology Teacher. 1, 115-121.